Let’s revisit the early ’70s, and check out what cars were found by the side of the road back then. Today’s images come from the National Archives Documerica Project, and have been slightly color-corrected for this post.
The lead pic was taken in Goliad County, Texas, in 1972.
Bexar County, Texas, 1972.
Miner homes in Brookside, Kentucky, 1974.
Chattaroy, West Virginia, 1974.
New Ulm, Minnesota, 1974.
Grant City, Staten Island, 1973.
Paterson, New Jersey, 1974.
Harrison County, Ohio, 1974.
The Patrerson N J Dart is bad ass and I want it.
In the early 1980s I lived in Bee County,Texas, which is adjacent to Goliad County. I remember a small car lot there, but not this one. For that matter, I don’t remember much about Goliad, the county seat, in fact I remember the village (?) as a typical tiny spot on a reasonably main road. Like most small Texas towns…smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
I would be interested in either of those Ford sedans, even if they were lower trim, 4 door sedans. Yet, at nearly 10 years old, I would imagine both to have been “ridden hard, and put away wet”.
Surprised to see that the current population is in the thousands and not the hundreds.
The bank president in New Ulm was flaunting his ’69 (approx.) Electra.
Then, Grandpa drove up to deposit his social security in his ’65 Impala sedan.
The dude just back from ‘Nam parked his Charger out front.
And, of course, the college kid stopped in get some cash, on the way to Woodstock, in his hippie bus.
Aren’t stereotypes wonderful? 😎
It’s a 2-door Coronet, not a Charger. Maybe he’s withdrawing some money for the Cragars he passed on a factory hubcap upgrade in favor of.
The building’s lost its’ original signage, clock and siding but at least seems to have survived the dated-but-not-yet-retro phase more intact than it could’ve;
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.3145643,-94.4601871,3a,89.9y,256.76h,92.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sY69UYY6bWmVowc2X1r_Mwg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Nice link. The Bank building has weathered well for something 50 years old. A thought that occuured to me is that in 50 years, you will be able to visit almost any street in the world back to 2023 with Google maps. It will be a real time machine.
Pretty sure that’s a ’74 Buick Electra 225 in that photo. I mean he’s the president, so he (it was the 70’s so probably a “he”) should be driving a brand new car
The ‘72 Chevy in the WV photo looks pretty rough for a 2 year old car. Either that, or it’s owned by someone who never washes it. My sister lives in WV, and there are many roads that are either not paved, or ‘paved’ with crush & run, even to this day. So, it’s hard to keep a car clean when visiting down there, let alone living there. The owner may’ve just thought, ‘what’s the point?’.
The Paterson NJ photo with the Dart I previously used in a post entitled “CC Photography: Walking In The Footsteps Of George A. Tice”. However, the copy I found online had “alamy” written all over it, so I replaced my photo with the one you found.
Yes, this is what the world looked like when I was a little kid. I miss it, but I have to say that life is better now than it was then in many respects–and I hope it stays that way!
I saw that Paterson photo and immediately thought of one of your posts, Stephen. I so love those NJ houses.
(the Dart is nice too 🙂 )
SLOW! Historical markers at play!
The contemporary-looking bank in New Ulm, MN is still standing, and still operated by the same bank. Looks like the ’70s-style wood siding has been replaced by EIFS, but otherwise it looks like it did when new.
Incidentally, that building replaced one of New Ulm’s oldest structures. The Dacotah House Hotel was razed for this building, and that structure was built in 1859. Just about everyone famous who visited New Ulm stayed at the hotel – both those with good and bad historical legacies. Among other things, it’s thought that Cole Younger and his clan stayed there before the 1876 Northfield Bank robbery, and did folks with more noble legacies such as John Philip Sousa, William Jennings Bryan and several Civil War generals. But by the 1970s, the building had fallen into disrepair and the bank building was seen as a big improvement.
Thanks for that! I was far more interested in the building architecture than the vehicles out front. That it’s still standing and occupied by the original bank is remarkable!
Lovely images all .
Thank you Stephan .
-Nate
Wow, great images all. Out of all of them I think I like the Dart in the New Jersey photo the most. When was the last time you saw chromed, stamped steel kidney hole wheels on a car?
Regarding ‘urban renewal’. Many towns and cities participated in that movement in the late 60’s and the early 70’s. The city nearest me wiped out a whole section of town just south of their downtown. They razed houses and small businesses and laid out new streets and boulevards. They replaced most of it with a new city administration buidling, high-rise apartments, senior citizen housing and some shopping and dining. The newly-renewed area was juxtapositioned against the existing downtown shops and buildings (IMO) causing a very unharmonious existence. This started in the late 1960’s and wasn’t completed until 1975 or so.
Now, about 50 years later, they’ve seen ups and downs and the shopping area is largely empty with cheap pizza places replacing the dining that was there before. Mostly it’s just a lot of parking lots these days.
I guess it was a good idea at the time, but many small towns that managed to preserve (or just didn’t the political will or the money to replace) their original downtowns are seeing a resurgence of sorts. I have a feeling that this is all cyclical, that someday urban renewal may rear it’s head again and wipe out some 50 to 100-ish year old buildings. Then another future generation will find the survivors charming and quaint…
@ Geo ;
Urban renewal was a big thing in the early 1960’s on the East Coast .
I remember many old cast iron (! yes, that’s tight) building that were demolished and replaced with crappy cheap new ones .
The flip side is new York City where there are still loads of beautiful old buildings and more rats and filth than most third world countries .
It’s a tricky thing running a city .
-Nate
I am loving the Staten Island shot with the Country Squire and the brand new Suburban. That was either a family with some serious kid-hauling needs, or else two neighbors with a “surpass the Jones’s” mentality. 🙂
That 59 Chevy wagon sort of reminds me of a dog by a fire hydrant. Sort of.
Now that you mention it, I think the right rear is up on the bumper jack.
The tire must’ve sprung a Leakey. 😉
A really nice collection, Rich.
The “Smokehouse” in Goliad, TX looks like a place I’d want to have dinner at tonight, if it weren’t 2000 miles away and probably half a lifetime gone.
The KY miners’ homes looks like it could be the set of Coalminer’s Daughter. Only even more real.
The New Ulm bank. So 70’s. So brutal.
And the Staten Island picture. What an insane architectural mishmash each house is (the shingle siding with the “stone”work on the front totally cracks me up). And yet, the maddening uniformity of one more or less identical house next to another. I would absolutely lose my mind if I were to live there.
Today, the Smokehouse moniker could signal either a BBQ joint or a pot dispensary. You’d have to go inside to find out which it is.
Kind of like trying to figure whether an Amsterdam coffee house will actually serve you a cup of coffee.
Is that a coal mine in the distance in Harrison County, OH?
Yes, it was a strip mine just south of Cadiz, Ohio. Once the mining was finished, the land was reclaimed and it’s now a park (Sally Buffalo Park, if you want to see the location).
I kinda miss the memory as a little kid, of seeing broken down cars along highways, and their hapless owners waiting for help. It always made long road trips with my parents, more interesting.
To see entire families with their family dog, standing beside their disabled Ford LTD Country Squire, looking frustrated and tired. It was so routine to see, as many as five to six disabled cars along the 80km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway, my parents frequented to Ottawa. It was always the oldest, and most beaten down cars, we’d again see still there, on the trip back home later that day. Or the following day.